The case in three lines. Tara's first payslip from the bakery says £240, and the baker offers her Sundays too. Before she says an easy yes, friends help her read every line (thirty paid hours after unpaid breaks, a one-off apron deduction), price Sundays in what they would cost her (climbing, the paper, her university application, every Sunday of her last year) and give the money a job (Saturdays alone cover the deposit by spring). The baker asks, and the case stops there.

One question to ask. "What would you say to Mr Brightwater, and why?" There is no right answer. Then: "What did writing the two columns change?"

One thing to do at the table. Next time your teenager is offered something (a shift, a club, a commitment), draw a line down a piece of paper together: what it brings, and what it would replace. Don't decide; just make the swap visible.

The grown-up layer. The case models three money habits without a verdict: reading every line between gross and net pay, thinking of a choice in terms of opportunity cost, and budgeting by giving money a purpose before it arrives. The baker is fair and the job is good; the point is not that work is bad but that a yes always swaps for something.

The case leaves Tara's answer blank on purpose. Ask for it before you offer yours.